THE RANGER (R)
Review by Jeff Sanders
With a batch of neon hair dye, a firm middle finger to authoritarians and gallons of fake blood, Glass Eye Pix continues their streak of low-budget, left of center filmmaking with the fun punk/slasher/horror film THE RANGER, GEP producer Jenn Wexler’s directorial debut.
Chloe Levine is Chelsea, the main pink-haired miscreant in a band of leather-clad, spike-studded misfits. The film starts in a New York punk club (fancy words meaning abandoned building) where things get out of hand after a drug bust downward spirals into a cop being stabbed by her mate Garth (Granit Lahu). Lucky for them, they can go hide out at her dead Uncle Pete’s (Larry Fessenden) cabin upstate. Along the way, stopping for beer at a convenience store, they bump into a park ranger (Jeremy Holm) whom Chelsea shares some history with involving family, murder, and wolves. After her buddies thoroughly insult Duddley Do-Right, the events are set into motion and a body count is about to pile up.
THE RANGER really isn’t trying to break any new ground in the Slasher Genre writing department, which is fairly refreshing in this time of overly serious meta-horror that is becoming a dime a dozen. What THE RANGER does do well is in the casting of a good group of shit-heals playing the punks, and a coked-out Patrick Warburton-esque bastard playing the titular character. This keeps the familiar plot from becoming unbearable like so many other slasher films of recent and past. There are also a few nasty deaths that are allowed to go a bit goofy due to the punk aesthetic that makes for a good cabin in the woods fun.
The film is lean, hardly breaking the 80 min mark, which should be noted by other horror film directors. This keeps anything from overstating its welcome. By the time the credits rolled we have already traveled across the entire state of New York, seen the wilderness, learned about wolves and filled the back of a Brown Jeep Cherokee with body parts. Wexler even threw in some character development and backstory along the way. Woo!
With a fast pace, faster music, stinky puke and good cast, Jenn Wexler has made a film that will be enjoyed by those looking for a rush of red guts with neon tint, adding just enough weirdness peppered in there to keep it fresh. Just go in and have fun with it.
